The Fabric

The fabric I used to make my dress is from My Fabric Designs, a custom fabric design company based in Dallas. I ordered two prints from them last month, and this is the second one. You can see my first project from their fabric in my last post.

When you order from My Fabric Designs, you can upload your own design or pick from the plethora of prints already on their site. I am obsessed with fruit and floral prints, so this design was instant love. You can find this fabric here.

When selecting your design, you pick the base fabric and yardage you want. You also pick the scale of the fabric. Since I chose a larger scale on this one, I knew it needed to be a dress. It just screamed summer wrap dress. You know, let’s hang out by the pool or go on a date, maybe dance a little. Yes, all those thoughts went through my head when I finally saw this fabric in person.

They have lots of bases to choose from, and I was really glad that I ordered the swatch pack before deciding on which base to order. It really helped!

This base fabric is the interlock blend (also called cotton slinky knit). This fabric is essentially a super soft cotton lycra fabric. It feels like some of my husband’s thicker, high end polo shirts. It has wonderful stretch and recovery and is so comfortable to wear. If you prefer knit fabrics, you will love this one. It is a great weight for a top or dress, or some lounge pants.

I would not use it to make compressive leggings for me (just because I prefer higher spandex contents for garments with that much negative ease and if worn stretched out, you would see the white base), but I do think it would make great kids leggings because of how soft it is. Just make sure you pick a pattern that is not a compressive fit (which is generally true for a kids leggings pattern).

The Pattern

I used the Striped Swallow Summer Dawn to make my wrap dress dreams come true. This wrap dress pattern comes in a knit and woven version, has two sleeve lengths (short or elbow). Both sleeves lengths are full and gorgeous. It is a true wrap dress.

I like how the tie is sewn in this pattern. The tie that goes around my body inside the dress comes out of a buttonhole. It gives it such a clean finish. I have sewn other wrap dress patterns that had the tie come out of the side seam above the wrap, so it makes your ties twist when going around the body.

I made the woven version of this pattern 2 years ago. I really liked the pattern, but was not happy with how short the skirt option was that I chose the first time I made it. So, on this one, I did the midi option instead of the short. The pattern only includes short or maxi, and the midi option is shown on their blog. I am much happier with this length and feel it is much less prone to modesty issues. The other one just seemed to show the world too much when the wind flew by me!

As far as sizing goes, I technically was in an XS for my upper bust and waist, but I made the S based on my full bust. Since it is a wrap dress, I figured I could just wrap it tighter if needed. A hip measurement was not provided in the pattern. I probably should have graded down to the XS for the waist and skirt though based on my waist measurement because it does have more fabric than probably intended, but I love having the extra modesty the extra fabric provides so I still am unsure if I regret that choice at this point.

I hope I have inspired you in today’s post!  I would love to stay connected with you. You can find me on Instagram. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.

Resources

• The fabric is this lemon print on cotton interlock from My Fabric Designs. I ordered 2 yards, and it was barely enough to make a size Small. I had to piece my ties together and play extreme pattern tetris!
• The pattern is the Summer Dawn from Striped Swallow. You can get the pattern designed for knit fabric. Also, a bundle is available if you prefer to sew it with woven fabric.

Disclosures

I received this fabric for free in exchange for a blogpost giving an honest review.